In this photo taken on March 22, policemen guard the boundary of Cavite and Metro Manila as the national capital and its nearby provinces are placed under lockdown due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. INQUIRER file photo / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — A total of 594 cops are set to be deployed to man quarantine facilities in Metro Manila to ensure that there will be no more quarantine breaches, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Wednesday.
This is in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s proposal to deploy police officers in quarantine facilities to prevent a repeat of incidents of persons skipping quarantine.
The nearly 600 cops will be deployed in pairs to the 297 quarantine facilities in the national capital region.
Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya assured that there are also enough police officers for deployment in quarantine facilities outside of the national capital region.
“Yes, we do,” he said in a Palace briefing when asked if the country has enough police manpower for the move.
He said the Philippine National Police has “mobile force battalions” in every province, district, and region where police personnel could be sourced and deployed to man quarantine facilities.
Police manning checkpoints can also be deployed to guard quarantine facilities.
“Kakayanin naman natin ito. Hindi mahirap on the part of the PNP to deploy police officers sa quarantine facilities,” Malaya said.
As early as Thursday, there could already be police guarding quarantine facilities, he added.
Duterte made the proposal to deploy cops in quarantine facilities in light of reports of returning Filipinos from the United States skipping quarantine and spreading COVID-19 in the country.